Covering Autoimmune Diseases

Endomysium is the thin connective tissue layer that covers individual muscle fibres. Anti-endomysial antibodies (AEA, or: EMA) may be detected in people suffering from celiac disease. AEA develop as part of the ongoing damage to the intestinal lining caused by autoimmune processes involved in the disease.

It has been found that the antibodies detected in the anti-endomysial antibodies test actually are tissue-transglutaminase antibodies (anti-tTG), in the majority of cases of the IgG A class. Almost 100% of patients with active celiac disease and 70% of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis will have anti-endomysial antibodies of the IgA class.

The AEA test, an immunofluorescence assay using human HEp-2 cells, is more difficult to perform and to interpret properly than the anti-tTG ELISAs.